Aside from maybe Batman, it's difficult to think of licensed characters who've been in as many games, in as many incarnations, as the Ninja Turtles. Their latest effort (based on the current Nickelodeon show) has muscled its way into an arguably overcrowded genre, but while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run is far from the best endless runner on the App Store, it manages to be a fun, sharp-looking romp that requires a fair amount of skill in spite of its simple controls.

Digital distributor GOG.com expanded its library of Mac games by an impressive 22 titles today with an update that includes both classics and newer hits such as the Diablo-themed dungeon crawler Torchlight. We’ve already seen the bulk of these games on the Mac before, but GOG’s update also brings a few '90s PC favorites to the Mac for the first time. Better late than never.

Halfbrick established itself as one of the App Store's top developers thanks to games that feature simple, engaging mechanics and delightfully manicured aesthetics. Both Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride alike were sensations when they respectively launched, and remain among the best all-time iOS titles because they're tremendously fun and so thoroughly well crafted. Fish Out of Water is the studio's latest original affair, and while some of the hallmark elements are there – notably a unique approach augmented by quick-hit missions – the game curiously doesn't have the same hook as those earlier favorites.

Is it possible to generate a convincing sense of speed on a four-inch display? It might seem unlikely, but the App Store is bursting with an excellent and diverse array of racing games that beg to differ. Whether your tastes run toward arcade antics or simulation-style precision, or you prefer to loop in a cartoonish kart racer from time to time, we've got you covered with our picks for the 10 best iPhone racers available today. Heck, a couple of them don't even give you active control of your vehicle, but still deliver intriguing touchscreen tweaks on the genre. Whatever your speed needs, these zippy affairs are sure to satisfy.

When Craig Stern, the singular force behind Chicago video game developer Sinister Design, unsuccessfully tried to fund his Mac game Telepath Tactics at the tail end of 2012, he saw the result not as a closed door, but as an opportunity — a chance to refocus both the campaign and the game itself to better execute his battle plan. And now that the second Kickstarter has doubled its original goal and generated much more backer enthusiasm with a few days still left to go, he spoke with Mac|Life to discuss how initial crowdfunding failure doesn't have to be ultimately fruitless.

There's no denying that Ms. Splosion Man – a port of the 2011 console original – is an incredibly well-designed platformer. Its 50 lengthy levels are filled with inventively demanding puzzles, it's built around an incredibly fun gameplay mechanic (the heroine explodes to jump or attack enemies), it looks great, and it exudes a constant stream of goofy charm. So it's a shame that on iOS, an otherwise fantastic experience is hamstrung by a couple of key problems.

Every Free App Friday we bring you a nuanced look at some of the best and brightest free content available in the App Store. This week, however, we're going to take a look at some smaller apps you might have missed over the past few months. While these offerings may be bite-sized, we still think they're worth sinking your teeth into.

It's become increasingly popular to try and shoehorn console-style shooters onto iOS, but there's still something to be said for building a game around a system's limitations, rather than ignoring them. With that in mind, Frontline Commando: D-Day might look like a World War II-themed third-person shooter with (presumably) kludgy controls, but it's actually an arcade-y series of shooting galleries linked by auto-runner sequences. That combination creates a streamlined experience that lets us focus on what really matters: ducking behind cover and popping up just long enough to shoot Nazis in the face.

Only three things really matter in Hotline Miami: speed, surprise, and savagery. Highly stylized and yet shockingly realistic in its depiction of violence, the game pits a seemingly mute, possibly psychotic vigilante against buildings full of heavily armed Russian gangsters, and gives him just one goal: Kill everything that moves. True, that description could apply to any number of other bare-bones video-game plotlines, but Hotline Miami's mix of taut top-down strategy, hair-trigger ultraviolence, and neon-drenched '80s style make it utterly unique.

Few types of games are as engrossing as a well-made puzzler, and the fact that the iPhone and iPod touch can put one in front of us wherever we are can be a real lifesaver. Whether you prefer color-matching puzzlers, ones with a role-playing or wordplay twist, or something that mimics the feel of tackling a physical puzzle, the App Store is absolutely loaded with stellar options that can fit nearly any interest or block of available time. Here are our picks for the 25 best iPhone puzzle games today, which we'll update as new and more perplexing puzzlers pique our interest.